I get up wondering where I am, check the time and go back to sleep a little longer. The weather is much better today, sunny.
We’d decided yeaterday to go to Golestan castle. I text Mina. She’s friends with a guy who is coming to couchsurf at mine when I’m back. First we need to check out from the hostel and go change some money. The metro is heaving.
As we found out yesterday women can ride in the men’s carriage so we can all ride together but it’s super packed. The men here want to give you their seat, when it’s crowded they make space.so you don’t fall over.
The square is packed with traffic and you have to get into the flow of traffic without it stopping. It’s an art we have mastered by now.
We get to Golestan Castle and wait for Mina. As we enter together we are happy to see some persian architecture. The castle’s main halls were dazzling, covered in mirrored intricately designed walls and ceilings and beautiful murals that glisten in the sunlight. Huge chandeliers hang from the ceilings and the colourful flowered tiles cover the floors.
Wax figures that look like the late King and other random mustached figures.
We talk about work and working conditions and she tells us people’s only day off is Friday and she had a job in the past where she had to work then as well. She would like to keep studying I think now I understand studying is something that can absorb your attention away from the activities they can’t do.
We walk out of the complex to go for some food, as we approach the bazaar area crowds of people walk in all directions some pushing and bumping into you if you’re in the way. She points out the van of the morality police. In my head an alternative version of reality has me taking off my scarf and being taken off kicking and screaming. Instead I look away and we walk towards the colourful stalls full of nuts and dried fruit. I get half a kilo of mixed nuts and we ask around to find a good kebab place.
When we finally pick one the place is small and unassuming but the food is simple but delicious and really quick. We talk more about socialising and travelling. Mina has been on some holidays with her family. She doesn’t have friends that readily want/can travel, I try to reassure her that travelling alone doesn’t mean you’re alone.
We catch the metro back, we need to get moving to catch the bus. As we walk towards the metro exit 2 women warn her about the morality police right outside the exit. It turns out our shorter (waist lenght) jackets with jeans might get us stopped. In my head I’m arguing, in reality we turn and find another exit. The women here stick up for each other that’s nice.
Mina is smily, sweet and friendly, her hospitality is fantastic. We’re really happy to have made her acquintance and perhaps I can help her exhibit her art in Spain or online. I’d like to keep in touch.
I try to get a charge for my phone to have some wifi again but the guy can’t understand me after a couple of minutes he sends me away with the charge but without charging me. I ask at the hostel and the guy writes a instruction to the stall owner for the correct amount. I manage that this time but misplace the tiny paper with the code…. great.
We make our way to the bus station and this time the crowd in the metro is way more than heaving. The older men make sure the younger guys don’t harass me and make space for me and the backpack. Finally we make it out and ask a girl on a bus stop where we need to go to catch the bus to isfahan, she decides to walk us there. Her name is Fatima, she’s studying in Tehran. She makes sure we’re not overcharged, that we get on the right bus with the right ticket. She’s kind and smily.
As we set off I drift off to sleep and wake up past sunset. The desert is vast, empty and darker than dark. The tv blaring farsi soap opera of which story we can’t get the hang of and the kid in the back crying every now and then. We have 5 and a half hours of this. As the next town comes into view the lights look like fairy lights in the distance.
At one of the stops there’s a guy sitting in the luggage compartment of a coach in front of us with no shoes on, he is talking to the driver… if you think that’s odd then imagine my surprise when the driver walks away and the guy closes the compartment with his feet as the coach pulls away.
My back is sore and my knees feel locked. In my head a million thoughts about the people I love and the freedom I take for granted. If there’s one lesson to be learned here is gratitude for freedom held and fire enough to fight for that freedom when it’s treathened. Safeguarding the freedom of expression, equality, the right to travel, the right to unhindered information. We must not slip into comfort and let others restrict that freedom because once it is lost it takes blood and violence to get it back.
There’s an evidend undercurrent of that latent fire here but no overt signs of activism at least not from the tourist perspective.
Costs
Castle entrance 300000 Rial = Eur 7.50
Lunch free thanks to Mina for the hospitality
Mobile charge 50000 Rial = Eur 1.25
Metro 11000 Rial = Eur 0.28
Bus ticket to Isfahan 200000 Rial = Eur 5
Baguette 20000 Rial = Eur 0.50
Go beyond the blue door 